Earth-working machines, such as, for example, draglines, may be used for digging or ripping into the earth or rock and/or moving loosened material from one place to another. These machines may include a bucket for excavating or moving the material. The bucket can be subjected to extreme wear from abrasion and impacts experienced during the earth-working applications.
The bucket may include a lip including a plurality of noses projecting from a front edge of the lip. The lip may also include wing plates located at opposite sides of the lip. Various wear components may be coupled to the lip to protect the front edge of the lip. For example, teeth may be mountable to the noses, lip shrouds may be mountable between the noses, and wing shrouds may be mountable to the wing plates. The wear components may be releasably secured to the lip by retention systems, such as retaining members or locking pin systems.
An example of a retention system for retaining a wear member on an adapter fixed to a front edge of a bucket is described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,434,248 (the '248 patent) issued to Woerman et al. Specifically, the '248 patent discloses a retention assembly including a bolt that passes through openings in the wear member, a passage in the adapter, and a fastening receptacle for securing the wear member to the adapter.
While the system of the '248 patent may retain the wear member on the adapter, it may still be less than optimal. For example, the bolt may not be sufficiently held in place in a centered position, which may cause a head of the bolt to move when material is loaded and unloaded from the bucket, thereby increasing stresses on the bolt. Also, the material moving past the bolt may build up on or around the bolt, which may make removal of the bolt difficult and time consuming. In addition, the bolt may not provide a sufficiently secure attachment in other types of retention systems.
The disclosed system is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.